Telegraph-key.



No. 836,454. PATENTED NOV. 20, 1906.

E. M. MQGONIHAY. T

TELEGRAPH KEY.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.29,1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TELEGRAPH-KEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 20, 19 0 6 Application filed December 29, 1905. Serial No. 293,809.

To to whom it Til/(Ly concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD M. MoCom- HAY, of Lewiston, in the county of Kanawha, State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telegraph-Keys, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce an improved telegraph-key which automatically preserves a closed circuit, except at such time as its manipulation is intended and the key is brought into operation for the performance of the function appropriate to it.

Self-closing telegraph-keys,so styled,being not unknown, the advantages of an efficient key of that class are theoretically well understood in the art. Chief among such advantages may be mentioned the fact that through their use no interruption of the system, circuit, or circuits in which they are included is necessitated,for When the key is itself in operation the line is occupied in conveying the message which the key transmits. At all other times the circuit is kept automatically closed, and provision is made against accident or mistake of an operator in failure to close the switch-key after transmitting a message, in which event the circuit would be broken and the service interrupted. Heretofore in devices intended for a like purpose provision made has been inadequate and unreliable, inasmuch as it included circuit-closing mechanism which might be actuated accidentally as,for example ,by a weight laid u on the keyor which imposed objectionab e limitations to manipulation. Ordinarily an. operator desires a key which may be manipulated from any point at which he can reach it. My key is as available in this respect as any ordinary key. At the same time, being subject to manipulation only by upward pressure instead of downward or lateral pressure, it is made practically proof against ac cidental circuit-breaking. The same condition of upward pressure requiring any service of the operated keywhich protects the instrument against accidental circuit-bre aking tends also to improvement of the service in which it is used by compelling care upon the part of the operator in transmitting a message, the mechanism of my key being operative only in response to a firm grasp upon it instead of by tapping it, which is recognized in the art as being an objectionable and careless practice.

In the accompanying drawings,which constitute a part of this specification, Figure I is a top plan view of my key in its preferred form of embodiment. Fig. II is a side elevation of the same. Fig. III is a partial view similar to Fig. II, but partially in vertical section and on larger scale, showing also the manipulative position of the instrument in full lines, the automatic circuit-closing position of its parts being shown in dotted lines. Fig. IV is a perspective view of the automatic switch-plate detached.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, 1 indicates a base of any ordinary or preferred type upon which is pivotally mounted in any preferred manner, as between adjustable screw centers 2 and 3, mounted in posts 4 and 5, a key-lever 6. The lever 6 may be and preferably is provided at one end with the usual adjustable screw 7 and. at the other end with the ordinary button 8. It isalso preferably provided with an intermediate tension screw 9 and its spring 10. The spring 10 is intended and adapted by its expansive force, controllable through manipulative adjustment of the screw 9, to yieldingly preserve, as in the usual manner, normal separation between the contact-points 11 and 12, mounted in cooperative relationship to each other upon the lever 6 and base 1, respectively.

In so far as above specified my key may be and preferably is of a type in ordinary and familiar use.

My invention consists in providing such a key with a metallic member or switch-plate 15, conductively integral, electrically considered, with the lever 6, and in providing normally constant electrical contact between the key and said plate 15that is to say, in providing a normally unbroken circuit through the key the switch plate 15 is shown as provided for the purpose of making such contact with an adjustable contactmaking member or screw 16, which makes contact with its complementary contactpoint 17, incorporated, if desired, with the contact-point 12 in an insulating-stool 18 upon the base 1.

The plate 15 is preferably united to or connected with the lever 6, as indicated at 19, in such manner as to capacitate the spring 10 for normally preserving contact between the contact-making members 16 and 17. The plate 15 is, however, susceptible of motion to and from the lever 6, with which it normally maintains a substantially parallel relationship, as shown in Fig. II. To that end the IIO plate is yieldingly actuated and united to the lever 6. It is preferably made ofresilient metal, deriving its yielding normal disposition with respect to the lever 6 from its inherent resiliency instead of from the resiliency of a separate element.

As is clearly shown in Figs. III and IV, the plate 15 is provided with a clearance-aperture 20 for the accommodation of the screw 9 in the lever 6 without interference of the plate 15 therewith or with any part appurtenant thereto. The aperture 20 may be elongated, if desired, as shown in Fig. IV, so as to bifurcate one end of the plate 15, defining upon its opposite sides legs 21 and 22. The legs 21 and 22, especially if made dovetailed in cross-section, as shown, afford suitable means for assembling the plate 15 with a correspondingly transversely grooved barrel 23, provided for it, as shown in Fig. III, and incorporated with the lever 6. The construction of the plate 15 under consideration affords a simple and convenient means'of converting any ordinary key into my automatic circuit-closing instrument. The end of the plate 15 opposite to that which is designated in the drawings by the numeral 19 as secured to thelever 6 is disposed ina plane below but within operative proximity to the button 8, toward the top of which to operate the key it must be positively moved a suflicient distance to break contact between the contactpoints 17 and to such a degree of separation between them as to permit through usual manipulation of the lever 6 through the button 8 make and break of contact between the points 11 and 12. The aforesaid requisite movement toward each other of the lever 6 and plate 15 cannot be imparted by pressure upon the top of or against the side of the button 8, but must proceed from an uplifting force applied against the bottom of the plate 15. Such movement may in operation of the key be conveniently bestowed by the operator placing his finger upon the button 8 and by aid of the thumb pinching the parts together. Such manipulation compels the employment of a firm grasp upon the button, which, as previously suggested, insures improved results over a careless manipulation of the lever 6, which ensues from a tapping manipulation of the button 8.

In order to accommodate the lever to manipulation from anypoint at which the operator may prefer to reach it, I prefer to provide the manipulative end of the plate 15 with an annular handle 25, encircling the button 8 and preferably coaxial therewith. The handle 25 is,like the button 8, made of or covered with insulating material. A plate 26 of such material applied to the bottom of the annular handle 25 and covering the same may be employed for the purpose specified.

I desire distinctly to disclaim any intention of limiting the scope of my present invention to any details of construction, save such as are necessarily imposed in reduction to practical form of embodiment of the principle of my invention as herein set forth in view of the state of the art to which my present invention belongs.

What I claim is- 1. In a telegraph-key, the combination with its base, a key-lever and its button, of automatic means adjacent to said button for preserving normally unbroken circuit through the key and occupying a plane below the top of said button, said means being operative to break circuit only by an uplifting force considered with reference to said base.

2. In a telegraph-key, the combination with its base, key-lever and its button, of a movable switch-plate, means for preserving normally unbroken circuit through the key, a handle upon said switch-plate occupying a plane below the top of said button, and means for breaking said circuit by upward movement of said handle toward the top of said button. I

3. In a telegraph-key, the combination with its base, key-lever and its button, of a movable switch-plate, means for preserving normally unbroken circuit through the key, an annular handle upon said switch-plate occupying a plane below the top of said button and encircling said button, and means for breaking said circuit by upward movement of said handle toward the top of said button.

4. In a telegraph-key, the combination with its base and key-lever, of a bifurcated resilient switch-plate, means for securing the bifurcated end of said plate to said lever, means operative through the resiliency of said plate for preserving normally unbroken circuit through the key, and means for breaking said circuit by movement of said plate in opposition to the force of its resiliency.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD M. MOCONIHAY.

Witnesses:

GEO. B. BROOKS, C. W. MOCONIHAY. 

